The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur

by Howard Pyle

So King Arthur called at him his knights and gentlemen and yeomen, and he told them to bring to him those bishops who were with him, and also the wisest of his counsellors. When these were come he told to them the vision of his sleep, and he showed them the white spot upon his hand, where the finger of Sir Gawaine had touched him. And he said to those counsellors, “Sirs, is it better to treat with these our enemies to-day than to do battle with them? For if it be true that Sir Launcelot cometh to us, then all those knights who for his sake are now in the army of Sir Mordred, will leave that army and will join them with us for the sake of Sir Launcelot. Thus will many lives be spared and much blood remain unshed, for there will be no battle with Sir Mordred.”

Then all those counsellors agreed with him and they said, “That which thou sayst is true. Do not fight with Sir Mordred to-day, but treat with him. For thy dream and thy vision foretell thy death if thou fightest with him.”

So King Arthur chose him two of those bishops, and he chose him Sir Lucian the Bottelier and Sir Bedivere, his brother, from all the Knights of the Round Table, and these two knights and those two worthies he sent as his ambassadors to Sir Mordred. And he said to them, “Spare not your promises of land and of estate, but make this treaty for a month and a day; for by that time we will know how Sir Launcelot standeth toward us.”

The envoys treat with Sir Mordred.

So those two envoys went to Sir Mordred, and they entered into treaty with him and his advisers. And they argued for all that day, and against eventide they had not decided. So the next day they went to Sir Mordred, and that day it was determined that Sir Mordred should hold Cornwall and Kent for his own during the life of King Arthur, and that upon the death of King Arthur all Britain should be his to rule as king.

This treaty they brought to King Arthur, and when he read it he frowned until his eyes were hidden. “Well,” said he, “this traitor claimeth much. Let him be thankful that instead of all this land he demandeth, he hath given to him instead only six feet of earth in which to lie.”

So it was arranged that Sir Mordred and King Arthur should meet upon the next day at high noontide, at a certain place betwixt the two armies. And it was there arranged that each of them should sign this covenant, and that there should then be peace in all the land.

And the place where this meeting was to be held was a certain smooth and gentle valley, that sloped upward upon either hand. And upon one extremity of the valley one could behold the distant ocean, and upon the other side of the valley one could behold the plains of Salisbury. At this place those two armies were gathered upon the hills looking down upon the middle of that valley.

Of the meeting of King Arthur and Sir Mordred.

And in the centre of that valley there was a great pavilion of particolored silk erected for the accommodation of the King and of Sir Mordred. And a great banner emblazoned with the arms of the King and another emblazoned with the arms of Sir Mordred flew from the peak of the pavilion. And King Arthur came with six knights, and Sir Mordred came with six knights, and these twelve knights—six upon either side—stood some short distance away separate from one another, and King Arthur and Sir Mordred entered the pavilion.